Sonic Wrenched
by Jekkal
Summary: A Ratchet & Clank x StH SatAM Crossover. What kind of person WILLINGLY works for Robotnik? Whoever it is, Sonic needs to talk him out of it to save not just himself, but the future of Mobius!
1. BioBliterated

_Disclaimer: Ratchet, Clank, and Lombaxes in general are copyright Insomniac Games. If you want to read fanfiction with original characters involved, that's cool, but this isn't the fic for it! - J_

* * *

"Doctor Robotnik . . ." Snively spoke up, in that slightly British-sounding nasal tone he always seemed to use. "We've captured a new prisoner." 

Robotnik raised an eyebrow, looking as corpulent as ever, but he also had a strangely bored look on his ace. "And why should I care about this one? Does she happen to have breasts the size of her head or something?"

Snively blinked, caught off guard by the question. Rather than answer it, he turned around and asked, "Since when did you care about that?"

"It's been a slow day and you know it, Snively." Robotnik mrred, laying back in his egg-shaped chair. "It's the same old drill; capture, interrogate, gloat, roboticize, rinse, repeat. They're either all freedom fighters who would sooner commit suicide than tell me where Knothole is, or they're useless chav's who were either dumb enough or high enough — and my money's on both — to come into the city and get caught. It's almost enough to stop me from enjoying any of the process."

"Well, there's no head-sized breasts to speak of on this one, but I still say you should take personal care of this one." His assistant remarked, before flashing the Doctor a rare smile. "He doesn't look like anyone or anything we've captured before. We're not even sure he's a Mobian."

Robotnik sat up, now with a piqued expression in his eyes. "We've captured an alien? Why didn't you say so? "

Snively nodded, a slow grin on his face. "Guards! Bring in the prisoner!"

"I already TOLD you, I'm coming quietly!" The prisoner barked back in the distance, an annoyed tone to his response.

Robotnik spun in his chair to see a remarkable sight; A small robot with an oval head and a rectangular body marched in, and behind him stood the usual compliment of guard drones . . . but between the drones, there was a small creature. He was a feline of some kind, with a tuft on his tail, but he didn't look right. He had split toes with thick, meaty nails, and his ear canals were hidden so well as to be nonexistent.

He was restrained in the usual manner, of course, but either he didn't care or he carried himself like it didn't matter. With his hands behind his back, Robotnik noted some battle scarring on the little furry one's body; either this cat had seen the better end of more fights, or he'd played the prisoner role too much to be properly scared out of his mind. It was a shame . . . the 'first time' offenders were usually the most fun.

"Hmm . . . he is a strange one, certainly . . ." Robotnik's eyes quickly went to the unfamiliar robot, his face almost lit up in delight as he looked down at the tiny drone. "And the cat's odd too. Who are you, little machine?"

The robot looked hesitant, glancing back at the other prisoner. The cat nodded his head, though, and the robot turned back to look up at Robotnik. "My designation is Alpha-Six-Epsilon-Q. I answer to 'Clank' for short."

"You turned for permission. Is this prisoner your owner?" Robotnik quipped once more, pointing to the alien.

Clank shook his head, trying to remain as calm as possible; even though they were already caught by now, hopefully they could still talk themselves out of this mess. "This is Ratchet. He's my friend."

Robotnik couldn't help but chuckle, and Ratchet glared at the fat man, before the doctor spoke up once more. "You're kidding me . . . you're actually _friends_ with this . . . this animal?" He spat, having trouble finding the right words.

"You got a problem with that?" Ratchet snarled.

"You're definitely not from around here, I can see that . . ." Robotnik remarked with narrow eyes; whoever this creature was, he had a mouth almost as bad as the hedgehog's. "A pity. Tell me, then, since you're obviously so far from home . . . how did you end up here, then?"

"I'm not quite sure on that . . ." Ratchet spoke up, suddenly looking quite sheepish. It was one thing to get caught . . . and quite another to reveal technology like the Warp Pad to a planet that hadn't even made contact yet. Hopefully just acting stupid would get him released in a hurry. If there was one thing he could tell this guy liked, it was robots . . . which meant Clank might actually be useful for getting him out of this.

Robotnik shook his head, disappointed. "No matter . . ." He turned to a nearby swatbot. "Did you find them with any items?"

"None."

Ivo frowned at the robot, before glancing back at his prisoners. This whole situation was turning out as pointless as interrogating a freedom fighter. "No spaceship, no secret technology, no . . . no matter. Snively, take 'Clank' here and make sure our new friend knows how to behave."

"Yes, Doctor Robotnik." Snively replied, grabbing hold of Clank by a hand. "Come with me. This won't take long . . ."

"As for you . . ." Robotnik turned to Ratchet, even as Clank resisted Snively's tugs, but to little avail. "I have far simpler plans . . . no less sinister, I assure you, but much more common around these parts."

"Where are you taking him?" Ratchet growled, trying to run for Clank, but finding himself held back.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll see your friend again . . ."

_". . . from the inside of a roboticizer . . ."_

Ratchet growled, the dizziness wearing off of him as he came to. Apparently after Clank was taken away, Ratchet had been knocked out... or he at least assumed as much. He found himself on a metal floor of some kind . . . this room had purified, ionized air in it. The pollution had made it hard to resist before . . . not like he had much choice in the matter to begin with, but the smoggy, dirty air had weakened him significantly. It was like the first time he'd seen Orxon, where the air was so thick that he needed an oxygen mask just to run around the area. Why was this room so special that it had to be sterile?

Time had passed, he knew that much. He sat up, his legs in a kneeling position, noting the glass tube that encased him further within this room. Ratchet's eyes shot up, looking around to try and understand what was going on behind the screens and the assorted buttons. The fat man was now standing a short distance away, looking on with a derisive smirk of . . . satisfaction? pleasure? He couldn't tell. The glare of the glass tubing was making it hard to see.

"What's going on?" Ratchet leaned up against the glass, trying to get his senses back. His hands were still bound behind him; without his weapons, he wouldn't be able to break free of the glass. All he could make out in the room were the fat man, the weasel-nosed lackey, and . . . Clank was there too; he was standing a little off to the side, but he was there. "Clank? Clank! Answer me!"

Clank shook his head, suddenly looking despondent. "I'm sorry, Ratchet."

"Clank?" Ratchet spoke up again, watching Clank run to the tubing, "What's going on?"

"The Doctor . . ." Clank spoke, choking on the words. Ratchet's mind jumped back to how Clank had been replaced with a fake once before, but this . . . this seemed all too real for Clank. "I tried, Ratchet. I couldn't talk them out of it. This was my only option . . ."

"Out of what?" Ratchet shouted back, now finding the tubing he was trapped inside to be very confining. He turned to Robotnik, a sudden look of fear on his face. "What are you doing to me?"

"Why bother telling you? You won't care in a few moments." Robotnik remarked, looking down at Ratchet. Now this part . . . he liked seeing their last moments. He always liked this part. No matter how cooperative or unwilling the victim was, watching them before they went was always something he looked forward to.

"Stop this . . . I already told you, I don't know how I got here! We just arrived in the city, we were caught off-guard by those big black robots, and they led us here. We haven't done anything to you!" Ratchet pleaded, half his face against the glass. "Just let us go!"

"I'll be the judge of that . . . and stand up. It makes the process so much cleaner . . ." Robotnik snarled, waiting until he saw Ratchet struggle to his feet, the anger now apparent on the little creature's face. "Now, Snively!"

Ratchet snarled, but soon he felt his arms fall free; he raised them up, about to pull out something — anything! — from his inventory to try and break free, but then an instant later, there was electricity coursing through him, and he was frozen almost completely still. He could feel waves of sensation running up from his fingers and toes; his paralysis mocked him, making sure he could stand now, but he was only able to do little more than look up and glare at Robotnik.

Ratchet put his right hand against the glass, and his eyes went wide as he saw it shifting somehow . . . hardening, flattening . . . Ratchet looked at his hand in shock and disgust, wiggling the fingers. His eyes were wide as he only managed a few words out, in spite of the pain. "The biobliterator . . ."

Ratchet stiffened up to stand as he saw himself changing; stripes became reflective beacons, dull, rounded claws became sharpened shivs of metal, his stomach turned as bit by bit, the sensation of cold metal covered him. It seemed to be creeping in, eating up his body in piecemeal, saving his head for last as though the process was designed to scare him, making him more and more frightened . . . the creeping metal overtook his head, crawling along his face; he could feel it coming in across his cheeks and up from his chin and finally, lastly, all he knew was an organic brain feeling a metal body . . . He looked back at Robotnik as he noted circuitry crossing over his eyesight, and then, the world went black.

Metal knees hit the floor as the former Ratchet fell. Thirty seconds later, he came back online, whirring and whizzing as he booted up from a new power source.

"Perfect . . . so glad to see roboticization works on non-Mobians as well . . ." Ivo chuckled, looking down at the robot Lombax, and then back at his 'new friend'. "Satisfied, Clank? I told you he'd still be in one piece . . ."

The glass tubing retracted into the ceiling, and Clank ran for Ratchet. Clank helped sit the Lombax up, trying to stir him 'awake'. He knew he shouldn't have agreed to this . . . even as coerced as that agreement was. "Ratchet . . . Ratchet, speak to me."

Ratchet shook his head, as though trying to clear it, just on pure instinct. "Clank, you won't believe what kind of fucked-up dream I had this . . . time . . ." The mecha spoke, before suddenly noting how alien its own voice sounded.

Servos and circuits began to whirr and click as Ratchet stood up, slowly examining the new metallic body, as though watching it morph in front of his own eyes wasn't enough. He glanced down at Clank, then at himself, then back up at Robotnik. Ratchet blinked, before lowering his arms; a small LED screen on Ratchet's forehead lit up with a power monitor, before switching over to a status screen.

The next words that the new robot spoke ended up chilling Robotnik. "I don't understand this at all . . . what's going on?"

It took a moment for the doctor to recover himself. "I'm at a loss for words myself . . . That didn't quite go as I intended it to either . . ." Robotnik spoke, biting his tongue to keep himself from mentioning that when Ratchet turned into a robot, he should have become one of Robotnik's slaves; instead, he still seemed to be himself, just . . . robotic. His best bet at this point was to pretend that the 'malfunction' was Ratchet's robotic form rather than his metallic brain. "No matter; we'll fix you up just as soon as-!"

"I don't think so." Clank butted in, stepping between Ratchet and Robotnik.

"Remember our deal, little robot . . ." Snively hissed to Clank, motioning for him to step aside.

"No." Clank spoke, anger in his eyes as he looked up at Robotnik. "The deal was for Ratchet to use your device, and then we'd be allowed to leave. The deal did not include any further experimentation or alteration."

"You would rather leave your 'friend' like this? A crippled, hollow shell?" Robotnik countered, placing a hand on Ratchet's head, but Ratchet backed away.

"If you were unable to make sure your device worked as you intended it to, you shouldn't have used it on him so soon." Clank glared, anxious to find an excuse. "Either way, I don't believe any good can come of further experimentation on him. Come on, Ratchet." Clank tugged on a now-metallic arm. "I don't think we're wanted here right now."

Ratchet nodded, still confused, as Clank pulled him away. Once the two were out of earshot, Snively's eyebrows shot up at rocketing speed, his eyes wide in panic. "He's still a-!"

"I know, damn it!" Robotnik growled, his expression shifting instantaneously to anger as well. "There must be something about his physiology that the roboticizer couldn't account for . . . What was that word he mentioned in there? Something about a 'Biobliterator'?"

"Perhaps there is roboticization technology that he recognizes from his world." Snively remarked, now in thought. "It's possible he may have developed some form of an immunity."

Robotnik shook his head. "He never saw it coming. There's something else about him." He turned to look down at Snively. "We need to find a way to keep him . . . out of trouble. The little robot doesn't trust us at all; even if we can convince 'Ratchet', that blasted pet of his has a long memory."

"Why worry about trust at all?" Snively responded, leaning up against the console. "We could just hold them prisoner here until we figure out how to fix it."

"That would require we get it right the next time." Robotnik's eyes went narrow. "Any further tinkering with them that does not result in their immediate obedience will only spur them to sabotage us — and unlike that blasted hedgehog, these two might have enough intelligence between them to make it work!"

"We can't just let him go!" Snively shot back. "There's no telling what might happen if the Hedgehog somehow convinces that . . . that _freak_ to help him!"

Robotnik nodded, still with a quizzical look on his face. "Of all the possible interferences those two could run, I somehow doubt that possibility will be an issue. I'll find a use for our strange little 'friends' soon enough . . ."

_". . .one way or another . . ."_

Meanwhile, Ratchet had wandered with Clank over to a spot that looked to be a series of prison cells. Ratchet glanced over into them, looking lost and confused, before sitting down next to one of them. He took hold of Clank, holding the little robot close with the care of a teddy bear.

" . . . I'm sorry, Ratchet." Clank spoke up, still keeping his head turned away from the newly mechanized Lombax.

"What are you talking about?" Ratchet responded, still getting used to talking in this new form. "I feel . . . well, I don't feel much of anything right now, at least not physically . . . but it was just a malfunction, right?"

Clank glanced back at the Lombax, a dismal look in his eyes. He didn't want to tell Ratchet what Snively had said to him . . . or that, at least on some level, Clank had always wondered what Ratchet might be like as a robot . . . but right then, Clank couldn't say anything.

Ratchet's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "This wasn't supposed to happen . . . _right_?"

"I had little choice in the matter." Clank responded finally, firmly. "I was unable to negotiate our release otherwise."

"Negotiate release . . ." Ratchet intoned in an inflection that should have been a mrr. "So he's supposed to be letting us go soon, right?"

"According to my conversation with 'Snively' prior to your transformation, we would be allowed to leave this building once they used their . . . device on you." Clank sighed, making sure he didn't use the word 'roboticizer'. Even to Clank, the word had a heavy connotation to it that he didn't like. "Any other option would have left at least one of us behind as a prisoner, and possibly resulted in your death. I only agreed to their demands once they assured me that you would not be killed by their device."

Ratchet glared down at his little pal. "That leaves a pretty open interpretation of what that thing was meant to do . . ."

"What would you rather I have done?" Clank narrowed his eyes. "Just because they couldn't find any 'technology' on us before doesn't mean they might not have figured it out by the time they would be through with you. I am required to protect Solana before I protect you!"

Ratchet took a step back, his eyes wide, before he sat down against the wall out of habit. This situation felt wrong on so many levels . . . His own body felt so foreign to him now, and yet it only took a few moments to think — well, to run enough CPU cycles — to verify that Clank had made an acceptable deal. Ratchet probably could have saved himself a little more time by telling Robotnik about the Warp Pad, and the Solana Galaxy, and showing him several of the weapons Ratchet had stored in an inventory accessible by his wrist-bracers . . . but that would have violated so many tenets of intergalactic conduct that it wasn't funny. He wasn't supposed to introduce otherworldly technology to a planet that hadn't advanced enough to make contact.

On top of that, if Clank was telling the truth, then Ratchet's view of Robotnik had just shifted from 'hostile but possibly benevolent leader' to 'small-time despot'. The only cooperation that made sense now was silence that the two of them needed to purchase at any cost. If nothing else, being turned into a robot would keep them from noticing he still had his inventory attatched . . .

Ratchet's now-blackened eyes glanced over at Clank's. "So now what?"

"Now we negotiate."

Ratchet turned to face Snively, who was so short that even when Ratchet was sitting the little lackey matched his height. "What do you want?"

"Doctor Robotnik sends his condolences for the 'malfunction' in your processing, and is willing to offer you a settlement." Snively spoke, handing Ratchet a short document. "As compensation for your newly acquired injuries, we are willing to offer you a position overseeing the Sigma quadrant of Robotropolis. You will have almost full control of your goings-on within the quadrant as well as the quadrant itself, provided that you still fulfill all of your minimal duties for the sector."

Clank's eyes went wide, while Ratchet narrowed his. "What kind of 'duties'?"

"There is a smelting facility in the area for forging much of the security systems' armor. That plant needs to be monitored and patrolled constantly to ensure that it is running as smoothly and as safely as possible. Your only other responsibility is to keep the sector secure; this includes your full cooperation with other defense systems in your area, as well as apprehension of any suspicious visitors should they appear."

Ratchet glanced at the sheet, before looking back at Snively. "I'm not agreeing to any settlement without a lawyer . . ."

"And exactly where are you planning to find one in this place?" The lackey shot back. "You should be able to understand that document almost instantaneously as is."

"Force of habit." Ratchet shot back, before scanning the page. He dully noted the thin green projection of a line onto the paper as he did this, reading it as he went. "I'm assuming that I don't have much choice in accepting this."

"You can either accept the current deal or you can try to adapt to your new body without our help . . . but I wouldn't count on that. It's not safe for robots outside of the city limits." Snively spoke, before adding on, "You don't want to know what those savages outside the borders will do to you once they find you . . ."

Ratchet let out a noise that sounded like a sigh, before just hanging his head; maybe with a little time, it would just feel like a suit of armor he couldn't remove; he might even get comfortable to this. No hunger, no pain, no wind chill . . . just himself, observing the world around him. In the meantime, he'd be able to learn how his new body worked, and at least being a security guard should be boring enough work that he wouldn't feel bad for 'cooperating'. "Fine. Take us to Sigma Quadrant."

"What do you mean, 'us'?" Snively remarked, before he saw Ratchet grab Clank roughly and latch the little robot to his back, as he'd always done.

Ratchet looked down at Snively now, switching on a light behind his eyes that illuminated Snively in small green spotlights. "The little robot and I are a package deal. You want us out of your hair? Fine, but I'm taking Clank with me."

With that, Ratchet started marching down the hallway, his stripes lighting on with a faint orange glow as he walked down the darkened corridor.


	2. First Contact

A few days later, Sonic plowed through the dusty roads of Robotropolis, carrying a satchel on his back that nearly hovered as he ran. The wake of dust just barely obscured the hordes behind him, but Sonic didn't look like he let it bother him any.

"Another day, another mission where I narrowly escape getting caught by a troop of tin-grins . . ." Sonic mumbled as he ducked into a nearby vent, just out of sight enough that he was able to hide there while the contingent of swatbots, hovercraft, and even a few football-sized flying cameras dashed past his current position. " . . . but that's why it's fun, eh?"

Sonic muffled his gloating as he made his way down the vent duct, apparently content to explore a new section of Robotropolis. The place was so huge that reconnaissance and observation would take ages to completely peg down — but hey, as long as this vent wasn't the delivery chute for some new roboticizer, so much the better, right?

After a few minutes of walking, Sonic unlatched a hinged hatch in the vent, poking his head out of the duct to see catwalks over vats of swirling, molten metal that bubbled lazily. Mixer arms churned away at the various molten ingredients, while each vat petered out its own proportion of metals down tubes and pipes.

The hedgehog glanced down at it in interest, before crawling out of the duct to leap onto a catwalk. "Damn . . . no wonder I never go here. This place is hotter than the Mobian Desert!"

Sonic looked around, carefully making his way around the facility. One false step here and he'd be Hedgehog Flambé; fortunately, there wasn't any real security detail here to speak of, so at least whatever this place was, it was safe.

"Just the place to take the heat off me." Sonic chuckled as he spoke up, glancing up at the rafters while he scratched his neck — and then blinked as he saw a figure sitting on one of the support beams up there, a large scarf hanging off of the figure. Sonic blinked, confused, but then shouted up. "Hey, you! Need some help getting out of this dump?"

The figure said nothing, but a bevy of orange stripes lit up on the figure, and Sonic quickly realized his mistake. "Oh . . . oh SHIT!"

Sonic ran back for the duct, but a blast of some strange railgun cut across his path, stopping Sonic in his tracks. He turned around to see the figure flutter down to one of the catwalks, Standing there. The first thing Sonic noticed was the sheer size of this robot's ears, but Sonic was much more concerned about the rifle the robot had on hand.

"Woah, there, Trigger-Happy. I'll just be on my way, cool?"

"Stay right where you are." The robot intoned, his scarf fluttering enough to show some signs of wear and tear — mostly tear. "Your death is useless to me."

"Yeah, I bet it'd be." Sonic spat, backing up on the catwalk, stepping up on the nearby railing of the walk, balancing himself. "It'd be a crying shame if I got myself killed before you could take me to Robuttnik, wouldn't it?"

"Step down!" The robot hissed again, coming in closer. "If I have to tell you again-!"

"Pfft, whatever. 'Look at me, ma, no h-'. AAH!" Sonic spoke up, before losing his balance, falling backwards. Sonic's reflexes let him catch the railing with one hand, but he was slipping, unable to pull himself up. The robot ran over, looking down at the panicking hedgehog before offering a hand out.

"Take my hand!" The robot spoke up again, extending a cold claw to the hedgehog.

"No way!" Sonic growled, even as the railing slipped against his latex gloves. "Do I look like I want to be captured?"

The robot looked down at Sonic; for a moment, it almost looked like he was glaring. "Take my hand or I take you straight to Robotnik!"

Sonic frowned, but then latched onto the robot's hand. "Is that a promise?"

"Sure." The robot retorted as he helped Sonic up. Before Sonic could get fully back onto the railing, however, the robot latched onto his other arm, forcing Sonic's arms behind his back before handcuffing them together.

Sonic struggled. "Hey! I just said I didn't _want _to be captured!"

"And I never said you wouldn't be. Now start marching that way." The robot chuckled, before adding on. "Pussy."

"Am NOT!" Sonic retorted, before blinking. There were things robots did, and calling their prisoners 'pussies' was not one of them. "Wait . . . do I know you?"

"Shocked if you did." The robot spoke up again, pushing Sonic ahead of him over the grill of the catwalk. "I've only started working here within the last 72 hours. "

"Didn't think so . . ." Sonic shook his head. "You don't talk like you're one of Robotnik's drones . . ."

"No reason to." The robot led Sonic on. "Now look, since you're my first visitor and I'm not keen on sending the Doctor any more test subjects, I'll go easy on you, kid."

"No way . . ." Sonic looked back at him. "How can you even be working for Robotnik if you're not under his programming?"

"Cognitive dissonance." Ratchet remarked, opening up what looked like an office door. "Now get in here before someone spots you. I can only be nice to intruders they don't catch sight of first!"

"Woah!"

Sonic tripped, landing face-first onto a nearby cot. He looked up to see the robot smiling down at him, and also noticing a second face poking out of what looked to be a backpack on the first robot, waving hello. The little robot leapt off, quickly moving to cuff Sonic's ankles together now that they were done walking. The bigger robot made a hat-tipping gesture with one hand, before speaking up once more. "So, first things first, kid; what's your name?"

"How about I find out your names first?" Sonic spoke up, struggling against his cuffs.

"Bargain's a bargain." The robot shrugged. "I'm Ratchet. The little guy who's making sure you're dressed in a festive shade of 'You're-Going-Nowhere' is Clank."

"Pleased to meet you, Mobian." Clank spoke up, waving to Sonic once again.

"Charmed, I'm sure." Sonic shrugged, sighing a bit. "I still don't get it."

"What's to get?" Ratchet spoke up again, leaned up against the door frame. "In case you haven't figured it out, kid, I don't belong here. At all." Ratchet waved out a metal arm to gesture out towards the smelting vats. "Now I may not understand everything that's going on in this place, but I at least understand enough to know that I shouldn't be taking the Doctor's words at face value."

"Nice. 72 hours and you're already learning." Sonic struggled to sit up on the bed, crossing his legs just enough to sit up right. "Name's Sonic the Hedgehog. Pleased to meet you."

Ratchet blinked, his eyes fluttering at this new information. Clank also looked stunned, and this time, little Clank spoke up first. "You're the hedgehog Robotnik keeps going on about?"

"That guy hates your guts!" Ratchet finally stammered out in disbelief.

Sonic chuckled, giving a knowing smirk to the two robots. "Tell me something I don't know . . ."

"Hell, as long as we've got a celebrity to be talking to, we better make the most of it. Clank, I saw some tea stowed away in that cabinet on the third level of this place; find it and bring it back here." Ratchet spoke, and the little robot started running. Ratchet, meanwhile, pulled up a folding chair and tugged his scarf to lay behind him as he sat down to face Sonic. "I may as well enjoy having you here while it lasts — I could use someone to talk to around here that doesn't go 'beep'!"

"Conversation, eh?" Sonic adjusted his seat on the bed, leaning up against the wall. "Well, I'll give you at least this much; being your prisoner sounds like a lot more fun than being Robotnik's."

Ratchet gave him a small shrug. "The deal I made was to 'apprehend' anyone who horned in on my territory; never said I had to turn them in to him. I figure as long as you're good and caught, I've held up my end of the bargain. I don't care enough about you to let you do whatever the hell you like in my sector, and I don't like him enough to turn you in, so . . . you get to have a nice little chat instead."

"Not exactly what I had in mind . . ." Sonic remarked. "How can you not notice that Robotnik's pure evil?"

"Look, I only came to this world three days ago — give me time, will you?" Ratchet retorted, rolling his 'eyes'.

Sonic blinked. "Where ARE you from?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you that." Ratchet spoke up. "Galactic Protocols state that I'm not allowed to share off-world technology with planets that haven't made contact. I can, however, tell you that I'm not from this world."

"So you're an alien." Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"In a sense." Ratchet responded, a grin on his face as he suddenly looked more at ease. "It's not the whole 'Take me to your leader, we come in peace' tripe you were expecting, now is it?"

"No, but then again, I figured if you were really from another world you wouldn't be a robot."

Ratchet shook his head. "That was an accident. When I first-. Oh, hey, Clank!" Ratchet's eyes lit up, as the little robot arrived with a steaming tea pot. "Ready, Hedgehog? The box I found them in looked pretty old, but the bags were sealed up tight, so they should still be okay."

_One minor adjustment in Sonic's handcuffs and a teacup later . . . _

"You were saying?" Sonic spoke up again, this time sitting a little easier now that he could keep himself upright.

"Well, when we first showed up here, Clank and I were swept up by a pair of-." Ratchet tried to speak up again, but Clank quickly hopped into Ratchet's lap, silencing him.

"It's probably not best to start telling that to our prisoner." Clank reminded him, clearly not anxious enough to want to hear the story again.

"Nah, it's cool, I can guess the rest from here." Sonic spoke up. "So I can take a few guesses at what you looked like before you got roboticized; what was Clank?"

Ratchet blinked. "What's 'ro-'?"

Clank cut Ratchet off again. "I was not affected by the Doctor's devices. I am a native robot from the Solana Galaxy."

Ratchet glared at Clank now, most likely upset from being cut off twice in short order, but Sonic nodded, taking another sip of the tea; if putting up with these two and their banter was all he had to do to avoid getting caught, so much the better. "I guess that makes sense . . ."

"It's a long story. Clank and I have been all over the galaxy — we've stopped planet-destroying CEOs, out-of-control genetic experiments, evil geniuses . . . and I have to tell you, the galaxy is gorgeous. Whenever you guys catch up to the rest of us, you won't believe what you've been missing!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "So what's stopping you?"

"That depends. How much patience do you have for the answer?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Not much."

"You guys aren't ready for us. Hell, from what I've seen so far, it'll be at least another 100 years before your technology catches up to ours, and that's assuming the place isn't still stuck in war-machine-fetish mode." Ratchet replied, now looking exasperated. "A lot of the reason I was down here is because I'm with this group called the Galactic Rangers. Since they assume I know how to take care of myself, right now my job consists of playing Mountain Man and exploring the 'disconnected' planets to see how far along they are. If the society seems to have itself together, I go back and report my findings, and the Solana Federation sends out their people to go ahead with making contact and integrating the new planet in. Otherwise, we give the place another decade or so to get itself back in order."

"I thought you said that was the short answer." Sonic remarked.

"You asked." Ratchet shot back, one arm wrapped around Clank now. "The long answer involves telling you exactly why your planet is so back-assward and how to fix it."

"All right, all right . . ." The hedgehog took another sip, trying to hide his disappointment. "Once we finish taking out Robotnik I'll talk to Princess Sally about that kind of stuff."

Ratchet's eyes went wide. "You people still have _princesses_? Please tell me it's only a figurehead monarchy, at least . . ."

"You wish."

"In fact I do." Ratchet shot back. "Despotic governments, a military state, complete disregard for the environment, rapidly approaching technological singularity . . . and on top of all that you barbarians still have divine right running the place? This planet's a wreck!"

"Woah, woah! You can't lump Robuttnik's problems in with the rest of us!" Sonic retorted. "We know he's bad, just give us time to knock him out!"

Ratchet glared. "All the more reason to delay contact! We can't afford to expose a planetary despot to the rest of the galaxy; those are the types of idiots who go on a complete power trip and try to take over the rest of the place! If this planet is too weak to defend against him, then fine, but we're keeping the Doctor fenced in!"

"Come on. Okay, he's bad, but the rest of the planet is a lot smarter than he is. I've got some friends in the Great Forest who can-!"

"Is it within the city limits?"

Sonic's head jerked back. "Hell no."

Ratchet shook his head. "I don't think it's safe for me to go outside the city while I'm like this . . . I was told that past the city limits I wouldn't last too long."

"And you're going to hold that against my friends . . . why?"

Clank shook his head. "It would be more a matter of you holding such things against us."

Sonic was about to rebuke that, but then he stopped and realized — they had a good point. It had taken ages for several of the freedom fighters at Knothole to get used to Bunnie and Uncle Chuck, and in Chuck's case, the only reason they trusted him was because Sonic had defended him so strongly. Being able to trust two complete foreigners, who were robots on top of everything else, was probably too much for people. Hell, _Sonic_ still didn't trust these two, but at least for being a pair of robots, they hadn't set him up so far.

The silence in the room sat there for a few minutes, before Sonic finally had the nerve up to change the topic. "When do you go back home?"

"I don't know." Ratchet shook his head. "I can stay as long as I need to, but I'm supposed to, at minimum, send a report back within a month or else they'll deem the planet overtly hostile, which will prevent any chances at contact for another century. As it currently stands, getting turned into a robot doesn't reflect well on the place, but at least-!"

_-Beep-beep!-_

" . . . nuts. I'm going to take this call outside." Ratchet set Clank down on the bed next to Sonic, before heading out of the office. Sonic glanced over at Clank, who merely smiled as sweetly as a robot could, and held out the teapot. "Need a refill?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Ah hell, sure."

Five meters away from his office, Ratchet popped out his communicator screen, now that he'd matched networking connections to work with this planet's technology. "Ratchet reporting in. You rang, Doctor?"

"Where the hell have you BEEN for the past hour?!"

Ratchet winced, then narrowed his eyes. "I've been busy."

"Not busy enough! Did you completely MISS the goose chase that the hedgehog gave security forces through your quadrant?" Robotnik growled with enraged eyes.

"I'm still learning, Doctor. You never even told me what the 'hedgehog' looks like." Ratchet remarked. "I'm not as familiar with him as you are."

"He's blue, spiny, fast, and annoying as hell. And if you let him slip out of your grasp again I'll dismantle your ears!" Robotnik hissed.

Ratchet gave the eggman a disarming smile. "I never said I missed the goose chase, Doctor."

"Then why was he last spotted in your Quadrant before he disappeared from camera?"

"Maybe he's just that good." Ratchet shrugged. "I don't know how strong the hedgehog is, but I'm confident that if I had spotted him, he wouldn't have gone much further."

"That's for me to order and you to find-." Ivo growled, but then stopped. "Wait a minute . . . the infrared monitors on your facility are sending error messages . . ."

Ratchet blinked. "This facility has those?"

"Of course; keeping the metals at their optimal temperatures is a prime component of this operation . . . It looks like . . . well, it looks like you have a 'uninvited guest' to tend to." Robotnik spoke, giving Ratchet an odd smile.

Ratchet blinked, an unmistakable look of fear on his face. "You think it's him, Doctor?"

The grin on Robotnik's face was unmistakable now. "Lock the plant down. We'll be bringing in reinforcements to help you apprehend him shortly. Robotnik out."

The screen blinked off, and an instant later, Ratchet was running, swinging the door open in a burst of energy. "Change of plans! Uncuff the Hedgehog, now!"

"About time!" Sonic smirked. "So glad I could change your mind."

"Not that!" Ratchet hissed, frantically working at the locks. "That was the Doctor. If he catches you, you're sunk!"

Sonic nodded. "How long have we got?"

"Not long enough!" Ratchet shouted, tossing the cuffs aside. "He's already got evidence of you on infrared. Your best shot is to get out of here and get the hell out of the city before reinforcements arrive. We'll stay here and try to stall them as long as we can."

Sonic nodded, hopping to his feet. "All right. If you're still in one piece, I'll try to get back here and-."

"Hush!" Ratchet hissed. "Don't come back here unless you can do it without getting caught again! Once is an accident; the next time won't be!"

"Got it. Catch you later, Ratchet!" Sonic bolted out of the door, and then quickly accelerated out of the plant, causing Ratchet to use the 'replay' functions in his lenses for the first time. Even Clank looked a little stunned.

Clank quickly shook Ratchet out of his mild stupor. "Come along, Ratchet; we better get ready."

Just outside of the facility, most of the reinforcement troops veered off course on reports that the 'Hedgehog' had been spotted three sectors down, but the largest hovercraft of the lot was still heading for the Sigma quadrant. When Robotnik arrived at the plant, Ratchet and Clank were both there to meet them.

"We've swept all five levels of the plant, Doctor, but we weren't able to find any anomalies." Clank spoke up, currently perched on Ratchet's shoulder.

"I don't need your verification." Robotnik spoke up, letting his pet robot chicken alight to the floor. "Cluck's equipped with her own seeker sensors for body heat. If that Hedgehog's been hiding here, we'll know."

Ratchet raised an eyebrow, skeptical. His skepticism quickly turned to surprise and then fear as the little chicken pecked about, moving ever closer to the sources of heat . . . stopping just in front of the door to Ratchet's office, squawking and trying to bite the doorknob.

"Incredible . . ." Ratchet managed out, before Snively ran up there to open the door, letting the chicken into the room.

Robotnik smirked. "She's a good pet . . . and it looks like that Hedgehog ought to be cornered, too. They're always in the places you never expect, aren't they?"

"I'll say . . ." Ratchet managed out, before Snively looked back from around the corner, frowning.

Robotnik's face changed instantly. "What's the matter? Is that blasted rodent not in there?"

"Based on Cluck's findings, I can only think up two possible explanations for finding these . . ." Snively took a sidestep, holding up two pairs of handcuffs and a now-empty teapot. "Either our new supervisor has the strangest fetish I've come across in a while, or a certain someone's been inviting terrorists to the tea party."


	3. Self Preservation

"Come on, Sally baby, I'm telling the truth!" Sonic pleaded. A few hours had passed, and (with a little cleverness and a lot of stray piping), Sonic had once again made it out of Robotropolis in one piece

To Princess Sally, however, the jury was still out on if his brain was intact, given the story he was trying to spin. She crossed her arms. "You might be telling the truth, but you don't know if the robot was!"

The hedgehog smirked at her. "Hey, that whole situation could have gone a lot worse if he wasn't at least a little on the level."

A flip of auburn hair dashed through Sonic's line of vision as Sally responded with a derisive snort. "Let me review the actual chain of events here; Robot captures you, robot tries to convince you that he's one of us, or at least an 'Enemy of my Enemy', and Robot lets you go when he realizes he can't hide you any longer."

"Exactly!" Sonic pointed out. "He let me go! Why would he do that if he was working for Robotnik?"

"Hey, it'd just as soon be in Robotnik's plan for this guy to try to earn our trust . . . and on top of that, Sonic, even assuming that this robot really IS some 'Delegate of Solana' or whatever the hell he told you, we have no way to prove it!"

Sonic stopped for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "That little bot. He told me that Robotnik's never touched that robot. If he's really an alien, then the technology inside of that thing has to be off the scale."

"This is the same robot you said _offered you tea_." Sally rolled her eyes. "And why would a robot be wearing the kind of scarf you described unless he was trying to look more . . . personable?"

"Sonic, sugar, I think you just got a bad adaptation of that book with the whole 'Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve' tripe than anything else." Bunnie Rabbot poked in, placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Even if he's telling the truth, there's no reason we should even care about this beau. You already said he wasn't about to bring his buddies down here yet, and he said it himself that he doesn't want to expose Robotnik to a whole new galaxy of options! Aside from the difference between 'I'll check back in ten years' versus two hundred, what difference does it make?"

"For starters, Robotnik's already done enough damage to this guy that the least we can do is show him Mobius isn't _all _bad — with a little more effort, I bet we can convince him to help us. Maybe even get him to open up 'contact' with just Knothole. " Sonic spoke up. "Wouldn't you like a nice Galactic military on our side?"

"NO!" Sally growled. "Until I see some damned proof that this robot actually has free will rather than you just telling us that he said he did, I don't want to hear any more about this guy!"

Sonic blinked. "Sally, you may want to check your medications . . ."

"No, damn it! If we don't get some form of proof that he and his 'little bot buddy' are in any way, shape, or form free from Robotnik's influences, the rest of this conversation is moot!" Sally glared at Sonic. "In order to actually get any benefits from his help or even verify that he actually is who he is, we'd more than likely have to bring him to Knothole, and there is NO way I'm letting you bring a robot here!"

Bunnie blinked. "Come on, Sally girl; He may not be all there, but I think at least a little of this guy ain't connected to Robotnik; he didn't even realize who Sonic was at first! Robotnik would just as soon keelhaul a robot for letting big-blue-and-handsome slip through his fingers!"

_Meanwhile, about 30 miles away . . ._

'Keelhauling' made a good synonym for the level of pain Ratchet would have been in if he still had an organic body.

Ratchet found himself thrown against a wall, his circuitry momentarily jolted out of alignment. He found himself looking up into a large, egg-shaped shadow, with glowing red eyes looking down at him. For a moment, Robotnik's shadow made Ratchet think of a fiery hell-spawned wyrm that would have risen out of the lava lakes of Gaspar, but of course Ratchet wouldn't even think of saying so now.

"Inexcusable!" Robotnik growled. "I know your mind isn't nearly as 'sophisticated' as the robots I work with, but to harbor a fugitive, let alone that blasted hedgehog, shouldn't have even crossed your mind!"

"Sir, if I may-?" Clank interrupted, a hand raised up to try and get Robotnik's attention.

"Stay out of this, little one." Snively shot back, and even Cluck was nipping at Clank's heels.

"There is a portion of Ratchet's background that will explain his actions quite handily." Clank spoke up again, just as Robotnik had taken hold of Ratchet about the chest. The eggman paused, then turned to look at little Clank, still holding Ratchet up in his left hand.

"I hope, little alien drone, that you can find a good reason." Robotnik began to squeeze his hand in, and Ratchet gasped in reflex, sensing that Robotnik's cybernetic hand could probably crush his metal form right then and there. "For your friend's sake."

Clank's eyes fluttered as he looked up at his friend in fear. Ratchet glanced down, eyes wide. "Please . . ."

True to form, though, Clank didn't miss a beat. "Ratchet's previous position was with a military operation spanning several months. As such, he is often in need of situations that require dealing with live prisoners and other 'civilians of interest'." Clank spoke, before adding on, "Naturally, much of Ratchet's protocols with prisoners have left him with a large skill set in interrogative and coercive tasks."

"Does he, now?" Robotnik glanced over at the body in his hand, still unconvinced.

"Ratchet is one of the top operatives in his field." Clank spoke up, hoping that he could still convince Robotnik that he was telling the truth just by sprinkling the real truth on now and then. "And, if I an any judge of Ratchet's behavior with his targets, I'd say he's a very . . . 'inquisitive' fellow."

Robotnik smirked at this, as he moved his thumb just enough to flip open Ratchet's chest panel, glancing down at the mechanics inside. Ratchet's eyes went wide, sensing that he should probably be embarrassed by this, but the panel went back down quickly enough. "So this little . . . creature here is actually a world-class tormentor?"

Ratchet blinked, looking up at Robotnik's eyes, still glowing red. Whatever Clank was trying to set up here, he may as well run with it. "When the situation calls for it, of course. . ."

The eggman still didn't look convinced. "How does letting the Hedgehog go fit in to these abilities, then?"

Ratchet tried to pry himself out of the robotic hand as he spoke. "Obviously my skills work best when I can understand my targets; this session was more investigative than inquisitive. It's one thing to understand how to best manipulate a person from a physiological perspective, but the most effective torment comes from the psychological side . . ."

Robotnik started to smirk, interested now and focusing even more of his attention on the mecha-lombax. "Go on."

"There was a case I dealt with recently before coming here involving some . . . high-level prisoners; the types that would likely overtake the facility if they were able to use their abilities in tandem." Ratchet spoke up, hoping he could retell DreadZone well enough to satisfy this despot. He even _looked_ a little like Gleeman, come to think of it. "They had to be confined in tight quarters and made to fight against each other, so that they'd be too busy trying to kill each other in order to gain their own freedom, rather than being able to work together to get it all at once. The more amicable contestants ended up being the ones that actually _worked_ with their captors to eliminate the others — after a fashion, of course . . ."

"And how well did it work?"

"Terrifying. Absolutely devastating. They're cut off from the outside, unable to do more than to keep returning into deadly combat over and over . . ." Ratchet spoke, now able to stand up thanks to Robotnik's hand loosening, though Ratchet stayed crouched down as though for symbolic effect. "We had these collars around people's necks, designed to explode on a whim or for straying outside of designated areas. They never actually went _off _except to show people that they actually worked, mind you, but the whole concept of it — the mere violation of that intimate zone, since so many prize their necks — is why it was used." Ratchet took hold of the scarf still around his neck, pulling on it to make it tighten in around his neck as though it were a noose. "Collars have always worked well to make people even more aware of their imprisonment, and the desperation it leads them to. You'd be amazed what people do with them on — what sorts of depths you can drive them to . . ."

Robotnik smirked. "Interesting . . . Most interesting . . ." He lowered his hand to let Ratchet alight to the floor. "Let me see if I understand this . . . your situation with the Hedgehog was more of an investigative effort to find out how best to harm him later?"

Ratchet saw Clank give a small nod, and then Ratchet nodded in turn, catching on. "It works best to find out what he prizes, what he fears, what he thinks he can't live without . . . obviously, these things are best gleaned from a subject willing to cooperate, if only at first, especially in a foreign land like this one. And of course, let's be honest here; you haven't hidden how much you hate that hedgehog."

"Are you kidding? That's probably the most common scream out of the top of his lungs." Snively chirped in.

Robotnik chuckled. "Indeed . . . so naturally, you figured that a more in-depth analysis of the Hedgehog's true nature was in order, so that when the time came you'd be able to manipulate him all the better."

"Exactly." Ratchet remarked, even has he swore that his heart should be practically vibrating from the pounding it would be doing in his chest.

Robotnik still looked angry, naturally, but the small smile on his face seemed to indicate that Ratchet and Clank had succeeded in mitigating his fury by appealing to a baser instinct — it was pretty obvious that Robotnik had, at minimum, a predilection for pain and control. This little alien in front of him certainly knew what he was talking about, and it explained why he was so indifferent to Robotnik's treatment up until he was separated from his 'associate' drone. And the ideas he'd mentioned sounded interesting . . . most interesting, in fact.

Fat lips gave away to a grin of unmistakable nature. Perhaps having this little roboticized creature keep his mind wasn't as grave a mistake as he first thought — in fact, from the sounds of things, letting him have control of his own creativity and unique expertise would be most effective. The little creature probably understood and inflicted whole new worlds of pain and suffering that Robotnik had never even considered.

Robotnik himself had always, of course, focused more on control; it was the main feature of the roboticizer in his mind, after all. Only Snively seemed to have the patience for actual torment, but he was small, he was weak, and he was sadistic; more often than not he behaved like a child who ripped the wings off flies just because he could. But an actual expert — someone who understood the psyche enough to play it like a harpsichord, and had also conditioned himself enough to let few things like 'emotions' get in his way — that was what Robotnik could use. That was what Robotnik needed.

Whole new possibilities opened up with the help of a skilled interrogator. He could gain untold information, he could find the location of Knothole . . . but why stop at mere inquisition? It had been one thing to threaten the Hedgehog and his friends with roboticization, but to be able to wage a war of fear and terror . . . this little robot was an alien form, a dark figure to them, and with the right 'supporting actor' for him to toy with, Robotnik would be able to spread word of his newfound brutality all over Mobius. Sure, he had a grip on the planet as it was, but perhaps with the right motivation . . . he would be able to suppress all of the rebels for good.

He smiled down at the two robots. "In that case, creature . . . excellent work."

"Thank you, Doctor." Ratchet remarked, giving Ivo a nod of compliance.

"But of course, I can't encourage you to let the hedgehog go so easily next time . . . there are standards that must be kept, little one. There are examples to set. And most importantly . . . there are rules you have to learn . . ." Robotnik reached out quickly to grab hold of Ratchet, with his tail whipping wildly, as he continued on. "Quite frankly, little creature . . . we have to figure out just how you plan to make this work . . ."

Ratchet squirmed again, back in the Doctor's grip. "What happens now?"

"Now, we leave your little friend behind to keep up with your work, while the two of us have a 'friendly' chat . . ." Robotnik chuckled. "I believe we have matters of great importance to discuss."

Ratchet was dropped back down on the floor, where the doctor prodded him to keep walking ahead, while Snively and Cluck left Clank behind on the factory floor. Ratchet looked back at him, suddenly becoming more nervous, but Robotnik pushed him along.

"Wait!" Ratchet spoke up, moving away from Robotnik's hands. "I need to speak with Clank."

Robotnik frowned, but let Ratchet run back for the robot. "Be quick about it."

Ratchet picked Clank up, standing him up over in a nearby corner between two of the smelting vats. Ratchet's eyes were now wild, furious. "Do you have any idea what you just did?!"

"You're welcome." Clank remarked, crossing his arms.

"Welcome? _Welcome_!" Ratchet spat out in a whisper. "You just made me talk this guy into being his top torturer!"

"And in the process saved you from almost certain death." Clank told him. "You let the Hedgehog go by your own decision, Ratchet. Surely you had to understand that Robotnik would-"

"I'm getting sick of that name!" Ratchet cut him off.

"Regardless, you caused a greivous slight, and it required drastic measures in order to dissuade his anger." Clank spoke up. "It was the first solution that came to mind which would not involve your dismantling."

Ratchet glared down at Clank, and the only thing keeping him from throttling Clank right then and there was the tepid lapping of his processing cycles as they once again quickly came to the conclusion that Clank was, once again, arriving to a valid conclusion. Something about that bothered him — ordinarily he agreed with Clank, actually thought the little robot was right, but ever since the malfunction, he just kept coming up with 'acceptable' answers. Was this just a side effect of becoming a robot, where sheer rationality made it difficult to quantify that an answer was 'best', or was there something else going on here?

Snively poked around the corner, sticking his nose into the conversation. "Are you two done yet?"

Ratchet turned around, still hunched over in anger, but with his head down. " . . . I guess so."

"We need to get going, then. I'm sure that Robotnik wants to find out more about your newly mentioned . . . abilities . . ." Snively remarked, taking Ratchet by the arm.

Ratchet grumbled to himself as he was prodded on. Sure, maybe it was just Robotnik's influence, but he was really starting to hate this planet . . .


	4. Waiting for Mobius

A few days had gone by before Sally cleared Sonic to return back to the city. This time, Sonic steered clear of Sigma Quadrant, but he couldn't help himself from wondering if that strange robot who found him had ended up in the midst of a scrap heap or not.

Sonic paused by one corner, shaking his head. If this Ratchet fellow was even half as clever as some alien in charge of 'contacting new planets' was supposed to be, he'd find a way to contact Sonic long before Sonic would be able to contact him again. All things considered, he'd be lucky if he could even-.

He looked around the corner, blinked, paused, and looked again to see what looked to be some robot apparently crucified in midair, suspended by several cables. "No way . . ."

Sonic glanced around to make sure the place was clear, before remembering that he was just on the outskirts — well away from Sigma Quadrant, and certainly not where most of Robotnik's watch was anyway. He cautiously stepped closer to the suspended Ratchet, with his mind doing plenty of racing for a change about all the different ways this could be a big trap.

He cocked his head up to see Ratchet groaning as though in pain, his robotic ears split open with wires sticking out of them, connected into the cables and around his head. He could almost hear what was going on. "Angela . . . God damn it, Angela . . . don't do this to me . . ."

Sonic stopped for a moment. "Who's Angela?"

The robot gasped, caught up in itself. "Who's there?!"

Sonic blinked, then began to back off, wondering if maybe he wasn't doing the right thing by approaching him like this. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Could robots even do that? Then again, he wasn't the normal type of robot, by any stretch . . .

Ratchet's eyes took a few moments to return online, before turning what little degree of freedom his current cabling allowed, to see Sonic. He glared. "You again."

The hedgehog nodded, checking out of the corners of his eyes. "Glad to see you're still around."

"No thanks to you!" Ratchet snapped, before sighing at his predicament. "I swear, R- . . . the doctor couldn't have made this more painful if he tried . . ."

Sonic frowned; so apparently he'd been strung out to dry because of Sonic's interference. "Sorry."

"It was my mistake for harboring you. I should've known the big man liked automating his systems too much to let me get away with it." Ratchet spoke, his head turned down.

The hedgehog couldn't help but return with a derisive laugh. "'Harboring' me? Come on, you're even starting to talk like the rest of the robots here, too! What's that fatass doing to you, anyway?"

"He's got me running chamber simulators."

"Wha?" Sonic asked, before Ratchet's eyes flew wide at what he'd just let slip out of his mouth. He needed to think fast.

The robot Lombax shook his head, as though forlorn, trying to cover for himself. "Pain algorithms and punishment cycles . . . after you left, I tried to give him an answer he would accept . . . he didn't. That's why I'm up here."

The hedgehog gave a small nod, still confused. "Where's your little guy? Clock or whatever his name was."

"Clank's working the facility back in Sigma Quadrant. I'm not in communication with him right now."

Sonic nodded, before he decided to get out of the middle of the street, wondering if he could find a way to climb up to Ratchet's spot and free him. Ratchet merely calmed back down, trying to recalculate his situation. Good, so the hedgehog thought that it was Ratchet getting the worse end of the simulation, and not 'Angela'. Course, Ratchet wasn't exactly holding up too well at the thought of hurting her, either . . .

Sonic finally managed a foothold onto one of the cables, and soon found himself sidling along them towards Ratchet's position. Ratchet blinked, confused. "You really shouldn't be doing this . . ."

"Come on, I've fallen further. A little slip's not about to kill me here."

"I mean you shouldn't even be here . . . the doctor won't be as generous as he was the first time . . ." Ratchet spoke, causing Sonic to roll his eyes.

"So tying you up and giving you electric nightmares is your idea of 'generosity'? Come on, man, you deserve better than this." Sonic shot back, edging closer. "You have any clue if severing these wires is about to trip an alarm?"

He received a hard glare from circuited eyes. "Are you planning to try something with that information?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Sonic shrugged, finally getting close enough that he could consider it conversational space. "Look, I know I shouldn't be giving you the benefit of the doubt here . . . even Sally thinks I've lost my mind over this. But something tells me that this can't be Robotnik's work. I know there's more to life here than just fighting this lamebrain over and over, and for some reason you make me want to believe that the rest of the galaxy really is just waiting for Mobius . . . and the only way to find out if I'm right is to trust you."

Ratchet smiled, as though he was about to tear up. "I'm touched, Sonic. I really didn't think I'd get through to you this quickly."

"C'mon, I do everything quickly. Speaking of which . . ." Sonic reached forward, grabbing a fistful of cables. "I bet I can make it out of here with you faster than it'll take for reinforcements to arrive."

Ratchet was still smiling, but then blinked as his mind began throwing exceptions all over the place. "DON'T!"

Sonic's hand jerked back in shock, and it had kept enough of a grip on the cables to pull two of Ratchet's wires loose from their sockets.

Ratchet quickly panicked, yanking his hands free as he quickly tried to pull out the rest of the wires before he could get fresh orders wired in. Sonic's eyes went wide, trying to help, but soon one side of wires had gone free, and the two of them quickly fell to the ground, snapping out the other half on the landing.

"On my back!" Sonic spoke up, trying to pull Ratchet onto him. "Come on, hurry!"

"No, get out of here and save your- YIE!" Ratchet howled, finding himself forcibly lifted up onto Sonic's back. "Sonic, put me down now! You don't know what you're getting yourself into!"

Sonic sped up, dashing down an alleyway. "Tell me something I don't know!"

"The doctor's activating the sentry function he just installed!"

Sonic stopped, dropping Ratchet immediately upon hearing that, and the Lombax quickly got back up to his feet. Ratchet groaned, shaking his head as his status screen on his 'mind's eye' began to glow red rather than green. "The function went active as soon as those wires disconnected . . . I have direct orders to capture you now . . ." Ratchet reached for his wrist as a gun began to bloom off of it, doubling and then tripling in size as he spoke. "I'm so sorry, Sonic . . . I tried to warn you . . ."

The hedgehog's eyes went wide, and Sonic finally did the first smart thing that'd occurred to him all night.

He ran.

_Zyooom!_

Sonic ran through the city, not really caring anymore which sensors he'd tripped off or whose cameras he was caught on. He'd finally done it now.

The stupid part wasn't thinking that Ratchet somehow wasn't under Robotnik's control. The idiocy was thinking it'd STAY that way.

He could feel the air around him being sliced as star-shaped blades flew through it, barely missing him. He had to have led Ratchet on a chase through at least a mile of the city by now, and yet . . . there he was, keeping up with him, blue energy coursing out of Ratchet's feet.

"How the hell are you still behind me? I thought Robotnik couldn't even get NEAR my speed!" Sonic shouted back.

"This isn't his tech, genius!" Ratchet responded, aware in the back of his mind that Robotnik was probably getting a feed of this. He'd probably have to explain the charge boots later, but for now . . . he had other matters. "Now slow down before I do it for you! You can't run forever!"

"Watch me!"

Sonic accelerated onwards, hoping to lose the Lombax . . . but then found himself tumbling into the nearby trash as he was hit with what had to be the biggest laser blast he'd ever felt. Ratchet skidded to a stop, just in front of where Sonic had crashed, noting how the hedgehog was now clutching his back from the pain. Ratchet sighed, putting up his pulse rifle as he glanced down at the hedgehog.

This kid wasn't going to last five more minutes, let alone whatever Robotnik wanted to do to him afterwards. In spite of all the new programming and mental conditioning Ratchet had been put through in the past few days, he couldn't let the doctor have his way, at least not completely.

"Last chance, man." Ratchet shook his head. "We're too far in the city for you to sneak out now on your own, and my orders won't let me take you there. If you've got escape on the mind, you are officially fucked."

"You sound so optimistic when you say that . . ."

"I can still detect sarcasm, Sonic." Ratchet spat back, pulling out one of his raptor pistols. "You don't want to be here when the doctor shows up. More to the point, you don't want to be alive when he shows up either."

"What are you-. Ow . . ." Sonic groaned, unable to stand at the moment. He felt like his quills had been fused together and to his skin, it hurt so much.

"Shut up, Hedgehog." Ratchet hissed, in that tone of voice that Sonic knew to fear. Ratchet grabbed onto Sonic's shoulder with one hand as the other held the barrel of the pistol against Sonic's head, making sure the Hedgehog understood what the Lombax was offering. "It's the only option left right now, but I'm not pulling the trigger without your permission. One word, and you won't feel a thing."

Sonic blinked, frozen in shock. He couldn't be serious . . .

Ratchet held to his position, waiting for an answer, holding Sonic there. Sonic didn't move, unable to think of another way out or comprehend what Ratchet was trying to do. And without an answer one way or the other, Ratchet kept his gun aimed at Sonic's forehead.

"Come on, Hedgehog. Either give me the okay, or just turn around so I can have you trussed up by the time-!" Ratchet stopped, his ears picking up on the telltale noise of ships landing. "Now or never, Hedgehog."

Sonic took a hard breath, "I . . . I don't . . ."

Ratchet just shook his head as he put his pistol away, pulling Sonic around to cuff his hands behind him once more. "Come on, then." Sonic took his time, shakily rising to his feet, and Ratchet looked mad enough to spit fire. "I thought I understood you."

Sonic grunted out a poor excuse for a response, to which Ratchet roughly grabbed him from behind, driving a knee into Sonic's back to improve his posture, making sure that the hedgehog was standing and able to see what he'd gotten himself into.

Robotnik was there. Robotnik was standing RIGHT there, and Sonic was still in too poor of shape to do anything about it.

Maybe he should've taken Ratchet up on his offer after all.

"Ah, so my new Inquisitor's efficient as well as clever! Good work." Robotnik spoke, and Ratchet nodded, one knee on the ground as he held Sonic to his stance. "Perhaps he'll be more to your liking than your first test was."

"First test?" Sonic hissed in a whisper of sudden paranoia.

"Don't ask, seriously . . ." Ratchet whispered back, before speaking up at the Doctor. "He'll do."

"Good, good . . ." Robotnik smiled down, noting Sonic's already weakened condition. "He almost seems like he'll be too easy for you in this state."

Ratchet snarled. "Don't count on it. This kid's as stubborn as I used to be."

"Then perhaps he'll do after all . . . and I certainly hope he will. The first time was just a rehearsal." Robotnik spoke, offering Ratchet a small shuttlecraft to transport his new prisoner in. "I expect nothing but the best from you . . . Ratchet."

Ratchet tripped a cycle upon hearing the doctor speak his name now. It had always been 'creature' before, as though he didn't even want to acknowledge his own species . . . but now a name? His real name, to boot?

Ratchet caught himself in a momentary blush, before returning the correct response. Compliment now, and panic about the budding case of Stockholm Syndrome later. "Thank you, Doctor Robotnik."


	5. Personal Horror

Snively couldn't believe his eyes.

In front of him stood the sleek roboticized alien, who in spite of still having his free will had not only agreed to work by Robotnik's side, but had also managed to capture the hedgehog — twice, in fact. Hardly as difficult a task as keeping him that way, but still an impressive feat nontheless.

Robotnik couldn't have been more pleased to have such a willing new assistant; which was why it shocked Snively so much to see the robot standing there, unflinching, even as Robotnik looked like he was about to burst a vein at another of the robot's 'disobedient' acts. "You offered to WHAT?!"

"I was testing his conviction, I already told you . . . Look, if he was going to say yes, then actually doing anything to him would have been pointless. I've already explained my method to you once before." Ratchet waived a hand dismissively, as though trying to deflect the Doctor's anger. "And on top of that, I thought you wanted him dead. Eventually."

"I already explained the importance of capturing him, and doing so while he was still alive." Robotnik growled.

"Yes, and I know better than to take your orders literally." Ratchet shot back with the abrupt rudeness only a machine could provide. "Tell me, Doctor Robotnik, have you ever heard the phrase 'suicide by police'?"

Robotnik blinked, silent for a moment. Snively finally had a chance to butt in and look like the smart one for a change. "You were concerned the Hedgehog might actually aim for death on his own accord?"

_Technically, I was counting on it._ Ratchet thought to himself, but his mouth told another story. "If that hedgehog is about to die here, then which way would you rather him go; begging for death while cowering in the trash, or going out in a full blaze of martyrdom? Besides, even if he'd said yes, I wasn't about to pull on him."

"And why not?" Snively piped up, earning a glare from the eggman.

"Simple." Ratchet smiled, hoping the flattering lie would keep himself dent-free a little longer. "I'd figure the good Doctor would want that honor for himself."

Ratchet smiled, but then blinked as a hard backhand knocked him to the floor. Ratchet sputtered, in shock.

"Don't lie to me, you insipid whelp!"

Ratchet blinked. Since when could Robotnik tell? "Doctor, please . . ."

Red eyes glared down at the Lombax. "Tell me the truth this time."

_Like I've been doing this up to now? _Ratchet hissed, keeping his true thoughts to himself once again. "A proper execution would serve as a better show of force."

"Very well, then. But you're walking a fine line, Ratchet . . ." Robotnik hissed, glaring down. "You better be worth all this trouble."

"Doctor . . ." Ratchet held his head, noting his metallic body once more.

Robotnik couldn't have been madder, though. "I'll give you a few minutes to get ready. Your 'supporting cast' is waiting for you."

Ratchet's eyes fluttered, shuddering to his feet. This place was quickly getting worse as he went along, and the work was quickly becoming foreign.

"Where's Clank?" Ratchet spoke up, trying to get the eggman's attention. "Where is he?"

"Clank is busy right now." Snively remarked. "Now get ready. We don't know how 'agreeable' the Hedgehog will be after the first take."

The robot's anger was still there."First take of WHAT?"

Snively glared at the impertinent robot. "When you step inside, there will be a camera, the hedgehog, and a suitable array of . . . tools for your purpose. You are to perform a one-minute 'ransom note' we can broadcast across Mobius."

"Now hold on, I thought Clank told you I was only good at-!"

"These are Robotnik's orders. You're doing this as much for show as you are for information." Snively snapped, handing Ratchet a small datapad. "Here is the script. Memorize it."

Ratchet glared, before looking over the page. "Rebels of Mobius, Citizens of Knothole, blah blah blah . . . we have the hedgehog . . . surrender and reveal the coordinates . . . if we do not receive your unconditional surrender within 48 hours, we will-."

At that point, Ratchet stopped reading out loud, and if he could have he would have pursed his lips in anger.

He threw the pad to the floor. "This is unacceptable."

"You are in no position to reject orders!"

"No, but I AM in a position to alter them to more effective ones." Ratchet shot back to the green-clad imp. "Now listen: this is pointless, and a waste of my talents. Any idiot can hold someone hostage and threaten to kill them. If you want me to work for you, I suggest you yield to a few of my more . . ." Ratchet trailed off, looking for the right word to make this sound plausible. " . . . artistic suggestions."

"Artistic? Are you mad?"

"The two tend to go into each other." Ratchet shrugged. "Regardless, Robotnik wanted me for my talents, and I can hardly showcase those talents if I'm expected just to torture someone to death. Killing is ridiculously easy."

Snively raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?"

"You don't want to know what my body count in the last year alone has been, brat." Ratchet snapped. "As I said, killing people is easy; tormenting someone until they _wish_ they were dead is hard. You're asking me to do something that I am highly overqualified for, and so I want to change the orders into something a little more suitable. We can still arrange your hostage situation quite handily while upping the ante a bit more."

"How so?"

"I need a soldering tool and two hours. Actually, make it four hours. I'll have a device or three crafted up for you that should solve our current situation quite nicely." Ratchet spoke, giving Snively a half-hearted salute as he walked off. "Where's S-. The hedgehog, where'd you hide him?"

"Down that hallway. You won't miss it."

"Thanks . . ." Ratchet remarked, before setting up his charge boots again to glide down and look for him.

Well down the hall , he'd spotted him. A bare spotlight shined down on a rack-like setup, holding Sonic in place in the center of the light, wrists and ankles bound to the vertical surface. Strewn in the corners were a few random sets of tools; he'd be able to work here.

Ratchet walked closer, until he could see the scuff marks on Sonic's fur where the bots had given him the worst of it. He gave the hedgehog a quick shake to check if he was drugged, and took a step back when he heard the hedgehog coming to.

Sonic stirred, eyes blinking slowly. "Where am I?"

"I'm pretty sure this qualifies as the fifth circle of Hell."

Sonic paused as he took this in, then immediately woke upon seeing Ratchet standing there. "You son of a bitch! I can't believe I ever-!"

"Woah there, hedgehog. I just saved you from a lot of trouble; be a little nicer to me about it, will you?"

"Saved me from WHAT? I'm tied up against god-knows-what in the heart of Robotnik's Fortress, and you think this is doing me a favor? I thought you didn't take orders from him!"

"No, I take orders; it just happened the ones he had when I last saw you were vague enough to weasel out of. This time I didn't have that luxury." Ratchet shook his head, taking a seat down near a small pile of electronics. "It was all I could do to figure out that if he thought you somehow died in my attempts to apprehend you, I could avoid actually turning you in, but you didn't. You getting caught was my doing, sure, but you ending up his prisoner is yours."

" . . . I trusted you, man."

Ratchet frowned. "No, if you'd trusted me, you would've gone ahead with it, and then I probably would've grazed you and just taken an ear off. The resultant blood would be enough proof for him, and then I could've made up some excuse to get you to the city limits."

"And then I'd be missing an ear."

The robot made a gesture that looked like he was rolling his eyes. "Get over it. They grow back."

"On your planet, maybe . . ." Sonic growled, sulking. "And what are you doing over there?"

"Working on a plan that both of us will be happier with." Ratchet remarked, digging through the tubing in the pile. He had to find just the right tools for this . . . even if he was going to build a dud, it still had to look like it worked!

* * *

"Snively." 

His hears perked up to hear the robot calling for him. "Something wrong with your setup?"

"Now that you mention it, yes." Ratchet spoke, trying to sound as calm as possible. " You certainly left him looking photogenic enough for your original idea, but the equipment in there isn't what I was expecting to find. I'm missing a few tools."

Snively's eyes lit up, clapping his hands together. "Oh, I was hoping you'd say that!"

Ratchet paused. "What?"

"I just knew a true connoisseur of carnage would have better plans in mind that the few trinkets I left in that room!" Snively spoke, ear to ear now. "You'll have to forgive me, I've never had a chance to study under a mentor quite like you . . ."

_Oh great, I've hit a nerve on the nerd. _Ratchet frowned. "Something about that doesn't reassure me . . ."

"What I lack in skill, I most definitely make up in materials. Follow me!" Snively spoke, almost skipping down the hall in anticipation. Ratchet shook his head, following more slowly.

He didn't need to be distracted by what was apparently the last fanboy left on the planet. He needed to finish those prototypes he'd been working on. He needed to see if he could continue to couch bluffs between both Sonic and Robotnik long enough to get himself out of here, let alone the hedgehog. His optics dully noted Snively stopping at one door, beckoning for the robot to catch up.

"So what's on the other side, there? Your supply closet?"

"You could call it that . . . I prefer 'the abattoir'. Makes it sound so much more sinister." Snively spoke, in a tone that would have made Ratchet want to gag himself. "No, this is my workshop. I'd be honored to let you perform your work in here, giving my tools the use they deserve."

"Yeah, sure." Ratchet responded in a dismissive tone, as Snively took his time unlocking the door. "Listen, bedroom sadism ain't exactly what I'm going for h-!"

As the lights clicked on in the room. Ratchet clapped his jaw shut. Given the chance, he would have spot-welded it there too.

The room was a perfectly orderly carnal mess. White tile and cream-colored walls — probably from an older bathroom or medical wing converted for the purpose — stood out against caked puddles of blood and rust-colored stains. Chains were strewn and attatched to several of the walls, littered with splatters from fine sprays of blood, and half-used trays of medical equipment were out, with no care taken to clean them for the tasks that he could only now imagine.

And on the central table, he noticed straps used to hold down ancient victims, before seeing the many crisscrossing gouges into the table's metal exterior . . .His eyes were quickly drawn up to see a red-tinted buzzsaw hovering above the table, leaving little doubt just how those gouges were made, or how many people it had seen.

Ratchet's processor skipped three cycles, as though he'd forgotten what real terror was meant to feel like.

Snively smirked, an ever-present look of pride on his face. "You like it?"

" . . . I need a minute."

"Take all the time you need. I'll be checking up on our prisoner while I'm waiting." Snively spoke, darting off as Ratchet walked inside the room, still in disbelief. Here he thought he had just been dealing with a pair of arrogant fascists who couldn't actually do anything without the will of 'their people' (or robots, in this case) behind them . . . and he was staring at all the proof he needed that he was dealing with first-class fiends.

Ratchet shut the door to the 'workshop', walking over to the central table. His eyes couldn't help but notice the bone fragments and bits of fur that he was stepping over, his cycles trying to stay busy. He had to stay focused about the mission. He had to figure out how to keep up this charade for at least a few more hours. He had to-.

And just then, his cycles began to idle out.

Ratchet blinked, quickly trying to run some inane task like calculating Pi down to the 5000th decimal, wanting to keep his mind from wandering. But even as he tried it, he knew no decidable problem was going to keep his mind from running what Robotnik had been shoving in his head for the past three days. Ratchet dropped to his knees, hoping to shut off his sensors and stop the imagery.

Without a suitable idea of what other creatures on this planet looked like, his mind kept replaying, reiterating, and recalibrating each of the scenes that left their evidence in this room. And instead of nameless, faceless entities, or even the psuedo-sanitized powerplay that Robotnik's programming had focused on, his brain kept flashing images of Angela shrieking against the chains, Al crying out in pain, Sasha begging for life as the sawblade drew in closer and closer to her neck and collarbone with surgical precision . . .

"I've got to get out of here . . ." Ratchet managed out, fumbling in his inventory. "Playing puppet on DreadZone was one thing, but this . . . get out of my head, get out . . ."

Ratchet finally let his senses get the better of him as he pulled his Morph-O-Ray out, fiddling with one of the matrices. He knew this thing could turn virtually anyone into chickens . . . maybe with the right touch, he could get some more useful results out of it. He _needed_ more useful results . . .

The revised matrices fell into place as Ratchet slammed the hatch on the side of the ray shut again. He could just prop it up against one of the tools in here, but he needed to test it out first. One arm went across the gash-covered table, holding onto the arm that supported the sawblade for support. The other hand had to worry about holding the ray steady.

"Somebody up there better be looking after me . . ." Ratchet muttered to himself, firing the ray and bracing against the table. Moments later, he cried out, screaming out in a level of pain he didn't count on — reversing the process was almost as painful as going through it! He cried out again, keeping his ray steady as he watched his left forearm and hand morph back to normal, kneeing the table to prevent screaming much louder.

Ratchet shut his eyes, trying to keep the pain from intensifying . . . the found his head ducking out of the way as the sawblade's arm came loose, the head bowing back down towards the table.

The robot's eyes went wide in disbelief, looking down at the blade that sunk a half-inch into his arm, even without being turned on. He watched it for only a few seconds before pulling back his arm anyway, only incidentally caring as the skin tore underneath the static teeth.

He clucked what would have been a scoff, looking down at his arm. Compared to turning it back into flesh, slicing it up felt like nothing. He took a seat on the caked floor, staring at his flesh arm, watching the blood drip out, even as he could see the rush of light blue nano running to the surface to hem his arm back up. His mind flashed for a moment, trying to figure out why he would still have any nano in his system at all after the transformation, but simply sighed and stood up now, wanting to walk again.

He held his bloodied arm close to his chest, suddenly concerned that Snively or something else might spot him. But the images of his friends being hacked to pieces in that room had finally subsided; the pain from the morphing and then slicing his arm open had blocked out everything else. The blade's interference could almost be seen as a lucky break in that regard, even has he knew he had to be dripping blood.

He trotted down the hall and through the open door, eyes scanning to see if Snively was still in the room. After three scans made it clear that the only one in here now was once again the bound hedgehog, he stepped forward, glancing down at the hedgehog, who had now dropped his head, as though beginning to accept his fate. Ratchet couldn't help but pity him right now.

"Shh." Ratchet placed a hand on Sonic's forehead, and Sonic blinked to feet fur against his face. "You have no idea what I'm doing for you here."

Sonic's eyes darted up in panic, even as he flinched from the dripping blood. "What's with your arm?"

"I sliced it on the way back. It was an accident . . . sort of."

Ratchet skipped another set of cycles when he heard Sonic's reply. "No, not that."

Ratchet turned his head, staring in shock as he saw his arm regenerating its metal exterior. His eyes went even wider as he saw the nano glittering along the edges of the invading metal, mowing through his skin. This was impossible . . . how was it growing back? Why was the nano HELPING it grow back? The Morph-O-Ray should have kept that part of him normal!

"No . . ." Ratchet spoke softly, even as the metal marched up towards his wrist. He held it out, and Sonic couldn't help but watch the slow-motion roboticization of the forearm, watching the golden tabby fur as it was devoured once again under unyielding metal.

Ratchet froze, his mind racing for an explanation, but then dropped to the ground, bringing the left fist down hard, then yelping as he realized how much extra strength a robotic arm afforded him. Sonic's eyes went wide. "What are you doing, man? Smashing your hand's not going to help."

"Something has to!" Ratchet hissed, watching as the metal halted its march for now, his eyes focused on the nano rushing to his palm. "This can't be happening . . . that only slows it down."

Sonic was still confused, unsure what to make of what he was seeing, having no clue about the nano that Ratchet was trying to use. "What's going on?"

Ratchet shook his head, looking for an answer, until he realized that he couldn't say it now. Not like this.

Ratchet fell to the floor, pulling out a raptor pistol, his eyes scanning for the cameras. One, Two, Three-Four-Five shots later, and Ratchet slumped to the floor, sitting up with legs forward and slightly apart, akin to a loose marionette. Sonic saw Ratchet produce another gun that bloomed from his arm, much like the one before, but this time, the robot aimed it at himself. The hedgehog's eyes went wide.

"Stop it!" Sonic burst out. "It's not worth that, man, don't-!"

Ratchet didn't listen, firing the Morph-O-Ray, steeling himself against the pain even as he felt it creep through his face and ears, and finally . . . the programming was gone, or at least subsided for now. No more thinking in cycles, at least for a few minutes.

Ratchet's arm fell, and the Morph-O-Ray retreated just as fast as it came out, Leaving Sonic to see Ratchet's true face for the first time. It was battle-worn, with cuts and scars along the creature's strange ears, bags under his eyes from too many sleepness nights, and viridian eyes that chilled Sonic more than any stare Robotnik had ever given him. It wasn't just the look, but the fact it was coming from someone who still dared to claim that he cared about Sonic's well-being.

The room was quiet, until Ratchet twitched his jaw, making sure that he could talk. "Hello, Sonic."

"You're scaring me . . ." Sonic spoke, trying to retreat against the metal. This voice sounded much cleaner than the one he'd grown used to, but at the same time, Ratchet was still speaking in that monotone pitch, making Sonic wonder what was really going on. At least he had his proof now that Ratchet really HAD been roboticized . . .

"I don't care anymore." He spoke. "Sonic the Hedgehog, I am Ratchet the Lombax. My only allegiances are to the planet Veldin and Solana Galaxy. I am neither Robotnik's pawn nor your ally. If I ever make it off this forsaken planet, I will make sure that it remains cut off from the rest of the galaxy as long as I possibly can. This planet is throughly hopeless."

"Don't say that . . ." Sonic paled, eyes showing worry.

"Sonic, I'm done arguing with you on this matter." Ratchet stared Sonic down, barely batting an eyelash, even as his robotic hand came up to feel the metal starting to crawl back up his neck. "I have seen more personal atrocity in this past week than I have in four years of running through the galaxy. Dealing with uncaring egomaniacs who think in terms of attrition and business expenses is nothing compared to having to pretend to work for two men who have no better passion than to inflict their special brand of rape upon this planet, one person at a time. You are one of the rare witnesses to this madness, and I applaud you for having avoided Doctor Robotnik up until my interference. You are far braver to face this man than I can hope to be now."

Sonic's eyes were wide. "What's going on? We still need to work together if we're going to get out of here . . . I'm can't even free myself from this stupid thing."

"I'm doing the best I can; I reversed the biobliteration process to make sure you understood that whatever I said next to you, it would be what I actually meant and not whatever programming Doctor Robotnik has tried to patch into me. Once the reversal wears off, I'm not sure how much control I'll have left in me."

"Because of the programming?"

"No — because I'm finally starting to lose my mind." Ratchet sighed, standing up, even as he realized that the metal was starting to go over his cheekbones. "You don't want to know what he expects me to do to you."

Sonic's fists curled up in reflex, finally wanting to break free of his bonds again. "Tell me."

Ratchet shook his head, finally having to shut his eyes as the metal darted over them, distrupting the retina and turning Ratchet blind, if only for a few seconds. The transformation was about to finish — he'd only be able to get out a few more words, even as his vocalizers were corrupting his voice once again. "Help me."


	6. Sonic: Deadlocked

"I've finished, doctor!" Ratchet spoke up, the swatbots behind him wheeling in the still prone (and spread eagle) Sonic on his metal rack. He flexed against his bonds some, but otherwise kept his eyes on Robotnik in reflex.

The eggman's eyes, however, were on Sonic's bonds, as though he wasn't impressed. "I thought you said you were developing a new device to use on him."

"And I've finished." The robot Lombax turned towards his more automatonic assistants. "Remove the rack restraints."

"Are you mad?!" Snively spoke, reaching for a weapon on reflex. "He'll wreak all sorts of-!"

"Who's the 'mentor' here?" Ratchet raised what sufficed for an eyebrow, unimpressed.

Sonic held his head as he straightened himself upright, still somewhat disoriented. He vaguely noted the thin choker — almost like a necklace, but of far more solid build — around his neck, as well as the cold anklets that barely poked out over his socks. A moment later, he stood straight, as though daring Robotnik to come closer.

"I'm waiting, Ratchet . . ." Robotnik hissed, still not convinced.

"Yeah? Well I'm not waiting a second further to tear your mustache out of its-!"

**_CHIRP!_**

Sonic froze to the spot, stunned upon hearing three trill chirps go off at the exact same time, with the vague awareness it was coming from him. Ivo saw the pupils in Sonic's eyes constrict to almost nothing, and couldn't help but chuckle. Ratchet merely smiled, stepping behind the hedgehog with a hand around the rodent's waist.

"I told you I would craft my best for you, Doctor Robotnik." Ratchet spoke, maintaining his thin smile even as he hoped he could keep up with this slick lie. "I present to you, the 'DeadLock' collar."

Robotnik's eyes went wide with glee. "Do go on."

Ratchet nodded, bringing his other hand up to help guide Sonic's chin out of the way. "The collar has three main functions; one, it serves as a tracking device, so at any given moment you will be able to find out the Hedgehog's location. Two, it contains a 50,000-volt capacitor capable of stunning the wearer into submission, though I should warn you there's a significant period of time it needs to recharge — about five minutes. It'll be good as a momentary strike, but not really suitable for behavorial modification purposes."

"Why so long?"

"Best I could accomplish with the tools I had available." Ratchet shrugged, still with a toxic grip between blue quills. "Finally, the Deadlock collar is laced with a frequency-based explosive, which accounts for the odd orange sheen you're noticing. That initial 'chirp' I did with the collars will be the last thing the Hedgehog hears before the frequency of said chirps maxes out at about nineteen kilohertz — the natural resonance of the explosive — which will cause the collar to detonate and presumably decapitate the wearer."

Sonic gulped. Ratchet didn't explain THAT part . . .

The Lombax flashed a quick grin up at Ivo. "See? He's becoming more compliant already!"

"And what, exactly, allows these . . . features to be useful?"

"The detonation and stun features can be activated on a whim; I can prepare a an additional remote device for your own purposes if you wish." Ratchet purred, attempting to keep his smug demeanor. "Tracking is automatic, and a simple script should be enough to keep you abreast in that regard. In addition, attempting to remove the collar will cause stunning, and detonation soon afterwards if the stun discharge is not enough to stop attempts. Also . . . Come on, spread your legs a little, will you?"

"Are you mad?" Sonic managed out, his mind racing faster than the rest of him for a change.

"Just . . . there, see, was that so hard?" Ratchet remarked as Sonic put his feet shoulder-width apart, before redirecting his attention back to Robotnik. "You'll notice the hedgehog is also wearing anklets similar to the collar. Thanks to your information about his natural speed, I have also put in an oscillation detector that will be able to tell when his legs are moving fast enough for him to approach any useful velocity. I've set up the anklets to work independently of the collar, so if and when he attempts to run, one of the anklets will discharge. If he tries again, the second anklet will stun him as well. If he continues to attempt running and for some reason the capacitors haven't completed their recharge . . . they'll use their explosive features instead."

_WHUMP!_

"Was that another feature of yours?" Snively blinked, eyes wide with astonishment as he looked at the crumpled hedgehog on the floor, barely twitching.

Ratchet did his best impression of wincing. "No . . . he just fainted."

"Either way, little creature, you've certainly proven your worth so far." Ivo spoke, putting his hands together. "Tell me, then, how you plan to go about your . . . interrogation."

Ratchet nodded, crouching down to check on Sonic. "At some point within the next 72 hours, I need to determine the hedgehog's baseline behavior and thresholds. Using those, I can better calibrate a session designed to make him as compliant as possible while still leaving enough of him intact to be useful."

Snively blinked — the idea of gaining a baseline had never occurred to him before. "And what of the ransom?"

"No ransom." Ratchet snapped, looking back up at the doctor. "In your case, the ransom 'price' should be a haggling point, not a demand. You are not looking for a key item, or a certain amount of a resource — I noticed that the note seemed to want two things: information, which is intangible, and submission, which must be given constantly. The only way to gain those items is to find out exactly what they will trade in exchange; demands are weak, and inevitably, no matter how much his friends may care for him, they will sacrifice him if the price is too high. Unfortunately, both of those items don't have a set value, so it's entirely probable that they'll abandon him."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Negotiations." He spoke curtly, standing back up. "Inform whoever the prisoner answers to that we have him. Make no demands initially; wait for the response. If they want him at all, you should notice some sort of reaction, whether it be beginning to reason with you, or at least attempting to take you down through subterfuge. Once we receive their response, we can attempt to bargain with them; let them state their initial price first, and then we can work from there."

Robotnik nodded; whoever this alien was, he knew war, and he knew it well. "And if we have no response?"

"Then he's useless; they've already written him off, and the only reason to keep him alive would be for personal vengeance." The Lombax gritted his teeth. "Regardless of what we do to the prisoner beyond this point., the important details are the maintenance of his imprisonment and the terms of how we will end such imprisonment; any methodologies of suffering and torture I inflict on him besides what I have already accomplished should be used only for these two purposes."

" . . . what?"

Ratchet glanced down, suddenly aware of the hedgehog lying at his feet, looking up at him with wide eyes. How much of that speech had he just heard? Sonic's jaw had dropped, holding his neck as he tried to pull himself back up, confused and with a look in his eyes Ratchet only dimly identified now; fear.

The two stared at each other, both in shock, and only jarred out once Robotnik began to clap. The heavy claps of approval rang through Sonic's ears, even as he wanted to deafen himself in disbelief. He was already stunned into mute silence as it was . . .

"Good work, Ratchet." Robotnik cooed, grinning. "So glad to hear that you really are as good as your robot friend mentioned. If only we had found you sooner . . ."

"Doctor, I must excuse myself soon." The robot spoke, before tacking on, "I have work to do."

"By all means."

The two slight-statured heroes marched out, with Ratchet keeping a hand cautiously on Sonic's back, while the hedgehog was bristling. With what, he wasn't sure, but-!

Sonic swung, cracking Ratchet across what should have been his jaw. The Lombax reeled back, feigning shock. "What? _What?_"

"You sadistic-! . . . Are you going to tell me Robotnik ordered you to talk to him like that as well? Or do you plan to keep lying to me?" Sonic hissed, furious. "Either you're a lot further under metal-mouth's thumb that you're willing to admit to me, or you're just as sick a fuck as he is!"

"I'm not a . . . God dammit, Sonic, What did you WANT me to tell you?" Ratchet spat back, holding his head.

Sonic crossed his arms, but a moment later one of his hands went back to his neck. He couldn't believe such a thin, lightweight piece of material could actually kill him . . . "The truth would be a damn good place to start."

Ratchet shrugged. "I already told you who I am, hedgehog. "

"You wanna tell me what Robotnik's got you doing, then?"

"I . . ." Ratchet winced, uncomfortable. "All right, look. Clank told a few white lies to Robotnik about how I was supposedly this 'Master Inquisitor' back in the rest of the galaxy, and since he seems to treat me a lot better as long as he believes that, I've been playing off the part and using it to justify behavior that would probably get me killed any other way around here."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "And you were gonna tell me this when?"

Ratchet cocked his head, sheepish. "Sometime between now and never. Come on, I didn't actually think I'd catch you again, and certainly not so soon . . . I'm trying to stall at this point."

"And you're trying to convince me you're somehow a 'better' robot because you're actually doing this willingly rather than just being some brainwashed slave of his?"

Ratchet paused, perturbed. "So far I've managed to get you a lot better treatment than you'd be receiving right now. Look at yourself; you're actually walking around, you're still healthy, you'll stay that way for at least the next 72 hours . . . So come on, lighten up. I'm on your side."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, suspicion in his glare. "I thought you said you weren't on anyone's side."

"Yeah, but I'm on yours a lot more than I am on his right now." Ratchet shrugged. "It's not going to be easy, I'll say that up front, but I'll get us out of here as soon as I figure out how to get you, me, and my friend all out of this place in one piece." He tried to give the hedgehog a smile, holding his left hand out. "Do you trust me?"

"NO!"

"I said, d-!" Ratchet started, before he finally caught up with the rest of himself. That was the entire flaw in his plan right there. He had been trying to gain up Sonic's confidence, and here the hedgehog was, telling him flat out how far he'd fallen short.

Sonic backed off, repulsed. "NO. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. Trusting you is what got me into this mess! If I'd just left you alone, or left you hanging out to dry, I could be back in Knothole right now getting laid by the finest pieces of tail left on the goddamn planet! But no, I fell for your schtick, and I actually thought you were here to help me and to help what's left of life as we know it on this mudball, and for what? For you to get me captured, fuck with my mind a little further, slap devices on me that could KILL me — and the way my speed works, I don't even know if whacking off at the wrong tempo is going to set it off or-"

"For the record, I highly doubt you could masturbate fast enough to achieve the necessary resonance to kill yourself while still being even remotely pleasurable."

"But you don't know that!" Sonic growled, furious.

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "If you had the endurance to withstand that kind of speed, you'd have artillery fire on par with about half of my weaponry."

"Forget I even mentioned it!" Sonic snarled. "And on top of all this, now you're telling me you're being 'forced' into working for Robotnik to torture me for information or whatever else that sicko gets off of, and not only that, but you're actually GOING ALONG with it! That he's making you do it is one thing, but you're actually playing right into his motherfucking hands and not only helping him with it, but giving him goddamn _pointers_ in how to do it later! For God's sake, you moron, how does teaching him how to turn the rest of my friends into spaghetti go with being on anyone's side but his?"

Ratchet jerked back, his logic circuits stumbling. "I -!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "While we're at it, how long do you think he's going to keep you in whatever passes for 'alive' once you've taught him everything that makes you useful? 'Cause I'm pretty damn sure that trying to break me is either going to take everything you've fucking got, or else everything he'll ever need."

"You think you're that damn tough, Hedgehog?"

"I don't need to be." The Hedgehog frowned, standing tall to glare right into Ratchet's robot eyes. "I already know I'm a better 'hero' than you ever were."

Ratchet glared right back, on reflex. "And what about that little 'talk' we had before? I'm already doing everything I can to keep you out of harm's way as long as possible. That 72-hour deadline I mentioned could last even longer if your friends do their part, and I can at least promise you that I won't be taking you any further than I have to. At this point, you can either fight me tooth and bolt on this, or you can cooperate and we can both ride this out as far as we need to go." He spoke, watching Sonic's expression carefully. "So come on, trust me on this one. You willing to let me save you?"

"Yeah, right." Sonic snorted in disgust. "How the fuck are you going to save me? You can't even save yourself!"


	7. Nothing

"There you are!"

Sonic glanced up and to his side, with the flashlight-beams from Ratchet's eyes on his face and quills. He rolled his eyes, a light sigh leaving his otherwise ragged breath. Those eyes quickly refocused into a glare, though.

"Come on, really? After I just spent how long explaining to the Doctor how I can track you down using your new jewelry?" Ratchet spoke with what would've been a hint of derision if Sonic actually believed he still had the capacity.

Sonic shook his head, his quills banging against the back of the crate. "I knew that, you idiot. I wasn't trying to escape."

"Then what WERE you up to, Sonic?"

"Why don't you drop your eye-beams down a little bit and see for yourself." The hedgehog chuckled. "Dare you."

Ratchet paused. "Pass."

"Shame." Sonic stood up, picking himself up with the help of the side of the crate. "By the way, you were right."

"About?"

"That 'necessary resonance' bit."

A frown appeared on Ratchet's exterior. "All that angst from earlier, and yet you actually attempted to try it. Why?"

"Figured I needed it anyway. And hey, if you were right, I may as well go out with a bang."

* * *

"How many hours left?"

"Seventy hours to go." Ratchet glared at Sonic with what distinctly felt like a glare. "If you're planning on getting any 'tail', you're going to need more endurance than what you just demonstrated behind that crate."

A loud snort came back from the hedgehog. "Hey, I needed to destress. I can damn well take my time when it matters."

"For your sake, the 'time that matters' is the next seventy hours." Ratchet reminded him, even as they walked out into the polluted atmosphere of Robotropolis.

"And I decided not to waste any of it. So there." Sonic snapped back, stretching his arms. "How else am I supposed to enjoy knowing you're going to kill me in three days, exactly?"

"That's not what I said and you know it. I said you have at least seventy-two, and now seventy, hours until Robotnik makes up his mind with what to do next. Most likely, yes, he will want you dead, but that doesn't mean that's when you die."

Sonic picked up a rock off the ground, looking up at a pair of swatbots in the distance. "What's the difference?"

"One implies a way out that doesn't involve a slow torture and slower death." Ratchet spotted Sonic's new target. "I don't see why you're bothering. The only thing that irritating those robots will do is annoy the Doctor."

"Ah, right. You're new here. Remind me, are there any of those flying cameras around us right now?"

"No, why?"

CLANG!

"Oh, the ringing! The clanging! The pain!"

"I do NOT believe this." Sonic sprinted over to the two swatbots, one of them now standing over the bot Sonic struck with his rock, who was holding his head in pain. "Seriously? SERIOUSLY?"

"Wait up! What are you talking about?"

"You guys send two people to come get me, and one of them is ANTOINE?" Sonic spat out, holding his arms up in exasperation. "I'm insulted! I'm shocked!"

"You're welcome." The second 'swatbot' hissed back, in a much more feminine voice. "He came here because he wanted to, you know."

Sonic blinked. "Bunnie?"

The swatbot pulled 'her' head off, revealing a fresh rabbit's face underneath the helmet. "Sonic, the only real question right now is why you're standing still. The last time I saw you, Robotnik was projectin' a picture of you spread-eagle and strapped down!"

"Projecting?"

"Look up, sugar." Bunnie pointed a robotically-gloved hand straight up.

Sure enough, there were projections in the clouds — images of Sonic tied down, Sonic unconscious, Sonic lying in the trash with a gun barrel pointed straight at his head, and words next to all those pictures. What they said didn't matter as much as the timer that was also reflecting off the clouds in the sky.

69:45:32. 69:45:31. 69:45:30.

"Figures." Sonic sighed. "If we're forcing him to wait three days, he's going to milk every second for what it's worth."

"Who's 'we'?"

"That'd be me." Ratchet spoke up finally, hands up and wide, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. "I'm guessing these are your friends?"

Bunnie blinked at the new robot. "Who're you?"

"Name's Ratchet. I'm-!"

CLANG!

Ratchet hit the ground, the swatbot helmet rattling to a landing a couple of feet beside him.

"This is YOUR fault!" Bunnie scowled, and Antoine pulled off his helmet as well. "It's your fault we're in this mess!"

"I can ex-!"

CLANG!

"This is no less than you deserve, you fool!" Antoine spoke up, having tossed his own helmet at Ratchet as well. "Sonic, are you all right? We need to leave, now!"

"No."

"What?" Bunnie's ears perked up momentarily. "Sonic, I don't know what Robotnik has planned, but it can't be good!"

"It's not." Sonic shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. "But I can't leave. He's got a tracking device on me."

"What difference does that make?" Antoine shouted, standing up.

"Hun, it means we can't take him back to Knothole while he still has it on him! That tracking device could lead Robotnik right to our home!" Bunnie shook her head. "Sonic, how do we get it off?"

The hedgehog shook his head. "I don't know."

"Sonic," the coyote spoke up. "If Robotnik is tracking you, couldn't you simply run away and stay someplace that is, oh, I don't know, NOT-KNOTHOLE until we figure out how to remove the device?"

"It, ah, also keeps me from running." Sonic squirmed sheepishly.

"Ah, silly me. We're obviously asking the wrong person."

Ratchet tried to shake his head to clear it (an entirely unnecessary gesture at this point), only to find the heel of a swatbot boot forcing his head back into the dirt.

"What the hell have you done to him, you overclocked, tricked-out trickster?"

"Are you actually going to let me talk this time?"

"Depends. Am I gonna get the answer I want?"

Ratchet paused. "As long as the question is not why Sonic can't come home yet."

"TALK!"

"The Doctor installed some overrides that forced me to capture him! I have no idea what else he installed, but right now I am doing everything I can to-!"

"Stop. Please." Bunnie looked over at Sonic. "You see why we don't trust strange robots who say they're alien diplomats?"

"With all due respect, Bunnie, go fuck yourself. You would've done the same."

"I would've been paranoid enough to see this coming, and even Sally told you as much when you told us about this guy!"

Ratchet squirmed under Bunnie's boot. "Has anyone told you you're cute when you're angry?"

She blinked, looking down. "Did Robotnik install a flirting chip, too?"

"Bunnie, I . . . I know it's crazy, but I actually still believe this guy." Sonic managed out. "Well, a little bit. He's fucking crazy, but he's not Robuttnik's brand of fucking crazy."

"Sugar, you do realize what he's probably going to do to you?"

"Work with me here, Bunnie. Do you really think Robotnik would create a scenario like this?"

She winced, looking down at the Lombax robot, before lifting her boot off of his head. "So now what?"

"Do you believe me now?"

"It's not about whether I believe you, hun. Even he says he doesn't know how much you can trust him." She sighed, shaking her head. "Look, what do you want me to do? He wants an offer; what are we supposed to offer him that'll actually work?"

Sonic grimaced. The answer was obvious in hindsight. "Nothing. We can't offer him a damn thing."

"Are you sure?"

"We don't have anything TO offer that won't either get the rest of you killed now, or killed later." He shook his head. "Short of a chaos emerald, we've got nothing that we can even temporarily spare."

"Sonic, I can't recommend this." Ratchet sat up, shaking the dirt loose. "You heard what I told the Doctor."

"No, you said a bunch of stuff that only mattered 'if you received no response'. I'd say you have one." Sonic smirked, then shrugged. "And like I said, 'nothing' is the offer and 'nothing' is what Robotnik will get."

Ratchet raised a mechanical eyebrow. "So 'nothing' is what your life is worth, hedgehog?"

Sonic pouted, glaring. "Bunnie, Antoine. Get those helmets back on and get the fuck out of this town before Robotnik gets word of this."

"Sonic, are you asking us to leave you here?"

"No, I'm telling you to save yourselves. Now follow Antoine, and get out of here! He's an expert at running away with his tail between his legs."

"Sonic, wait."

The hedgehog blinked as Antoine knelt down, at first to retrieve his helmet, but then whipped it across his chest with a duller CLANG as he kneeled in front of the hedgehog. Bunnie followed suit, with both of them knelt down in front of the hedgehog.

"Guys, don't." Sonic blinked, as the gesture's meaning clicked inside his head. "Please. I'll be fine. I'll get out of this one. I always do."

"Sonic, it's okay."

"No, you don't understand. This is a perfectly normal situation. I will be fine. I will be back in Knothole in three days, and that will be the end of it. Now. Get. OUT!"

Sonic growled, glaring as he watched Antoine and Bunnie don their helmets again and duck into a nearby alleyway. He stood there, motionless, until Ratchet pulled himself back up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Always have to make a brave face, huh?"

"Yeah."

Ratchet nodded. "Nice touch. The real question is, is it for them, or for you?"

Sonic glanced up at the sky again. 69:00:02. 69:00:01. 68:59:59.

"Does it matter?"

* * *

"Ratchet?"

"Clank! I'm so glad to see you!" Ratchet spoke up, with Sonic sitting nearby, playing with a nut and bolt.

"How is the 'test period' going? Robotnik said you ran into a little trouble earlier." Clank spoke, with only a light twinge that Ratchet didn't even begin to notice.

"Just ran into a 'minor' rescue plot. Not even worth calling backup for." Ratchet shrugged. "The hedgehog isn't about to let them do anything."

"Doctor Robotnik said you needed to get an offer if you expected to keep the hedgehog alive for much longer." Clank repeated, a little stronger this time."

"I got an offer. 'Nothing' is still an offer."

"That is unacceptable, Ratchet."

"Let the Doctor decide that. He wanted an offer, they made an offer, he gets to work from there." Ratchet shrugged. "I don't know what Sonic's thinking here. Maybe he's hoping they'll come up with a better plan before time's up."

"The Doctor has already decided. He will not accept 'nothing' as an appropriate offer."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic glared. "Seventy-two hours to come up with an offer. That was the deal."

"Doctor Robotnik has altered the deal. Pray he does not alter it any further."

Sonic glared, dropping his nut-and-bolt toy. "What."

"If nothing is what your life is worth, then there is no reason to wait." Clank turned to face Ratchet. "Doctor Robotnik has cleaned up and prepared the main operating theatre in Basement A for your immediate use. Emphasis on immediate."

"I need more time!" Ratchet snapped back. "Tell him he can march down here and give the order himself if he's so intent on it!"

"Ratchet, I am merely relaying his direct orders. Take the hedgehog down there and get to work."

The robotic lombax would have spit if he could. This wasn't like Clank, not at all. He needed to buy time. He didn't know what he needed it for, but he knew he needed time. "But he still has sixty-one hours!"

"Then you have sixty-one hours to keep him alive. The time limit no longer counts down to the start of his torment, but the end of his execution. That is, of course, unless you can convince him to offer something a little more satisfying in exchange for his life."

"You little-!"

"Hey, hold on, blue boy. You're going to need every ounce of energy you've got." Ratchet held up an arm, blocking Sonic's attempt to wring Clank's neck. "But even for that, I need time! I need to-!"

"Doctor Robotnik has decided to give you a hand in that regard. Take the hedgehog down to the theatre and you will find out for yourself." Clank spoke, turning to walk off. "Do come along, Ratchet."

"Wait. Are you going in there with me?"

Clank paused. Ratchet glared, waiting for a response. It took entirely too long for Clank to say, "Yes. Now please come along, Ratchet."

"All right, hedgehog." Ratchet sighed, grabbing him by his left arm. "Looks like we're making you a star ahead of schedule."

Sonic's arm went limp. "You can't be serious!"

Ratchet leaned in close, almost biting Sonic's ear. "Something's wrong. I don't know what it is, but until I can get Robotnik to force his hand, I need to call his bluff, and I need you to work with me . . ."


End file.
